Chemical fire-extinguishing apparatus.



C. B. CONNELY.

CHEMICAL FIRE ExTIAIGuIsHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.8, I9I6.

1,280, 16.8. Patented Oct. 1,1918.

CHARLES' B. CONNELY, OF SCOTIA, NEW YORK.

CHEMICAL FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS.

Application filed April 8, 1916. Serial No. 89,961.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES B. CONNELY,

p a citizen of the United States, residing at Scotia, county ofSchenectady, State of New .York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Chemical Fire-Extinguishing Apparatus, of which thefollowing 1s a specification.

My inventionl relates to chemical fire extinguishing apparatus and hasfor its ob]ect the provision of means whereby the production of fireextinguishing fluid is rendered continuous and readily controllable. Inchemical fire extinguishing apparatus heretofore constructed, it iscustomary to have a definite amount of acid which is emptied into amixing chamber containing the chemical compound which reacts with theacid to form the extinguishing tiuid. Frequently there is no demand forall of the fluid so formed and it is therefore necessary to waste alarge part of the materials since the lmixing chamber must be cleanedout each time it is used. One of the objects of my invention istolovercome this objection and produce only the amount of fluid desiredwithout wasting any substantial amount of materials.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a relatively large supply ofboth the acid and chemical' compound and control. the discharge of thesematerials into the mixing chamber so that the fluid will be producedonly as it is used and when the use of the iiud ceases the supply of theacid and compound is automatically cut off and the production of fluidstopped. I preferably have the container for thematerials in duplicateso that one container may be replenished while the other is in use. Inthis way the production of fluid goes on continually as long asnecessary or desired. In one form of my invention, the supply of fiuidto the mixing chamber is controlled by the pressure in the chamber sothat as soon as a definite pressure is reached in the mixing chamber,the supply ceases and immediately starts again when the pressurefalls. Apump, which may be electrically operated, forces the chemical solutioninto the mixing chamber, and when the supply is shut off by reason ofthe pressure attaining a predetermined maximum, a by-pass isautomatically opened around the pump so that the latter may continue tooperate without doing any work until the pressure drops, whereuponSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1, 1918.

' the by-pass is closed and the pump takes up the load once more. I alsoprovide means whereby water under pressure takes up the extinguishinggas when desired. Other ob- .jects and purposes of my invention willappear in the course of the following specification in which I havedescribed my invention embodied in concrete form for purposes ofillustration.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating one form of my invention,Figure 1 is a diagrannnatic view of my improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is a`plan view of the same partly in section; Fig. 3 is a detail of one ofthe pressure governors; and Fig. 4 is a View of my apparatus locatedupon an automobile.

Referring to the drawing, 10 and 11 represent two tanks for holding thechemical fluid which would ordinarily be solution of bicarbonate of sodain water. These tanks are arranged in duplicate so that one will befilled while the other is in use. 12 is the mixing chamber which willhave its interior protected by a lead lining in the usual way. 13 and 14are lead lined acid chambers which are also in duplicate for the purposeof re filling while the apparatus is in operation. As `shown the twoacid chambers are attached to the mixing chamber and the latter is ontrunnions so that by turning it throu l1 an'angle of 90o one or theother of the acid chambers will be set into action. As shown in Fig. 1the acid chamber 13 is in a vertical position so that the acid thereinwill flow into the mixing chamber. Connection vis made from the tanks10y and 11 in parallel to the mixing chamber through a pipe l5 so thatthe chemical fluid may pass from either one of the chemical tanks intothe mixing chamber, the valves 17, 18, 19 and 20 being supplied forcutting off the tank which is not in use. Pipe 16 carries the water fromthe source of supply to the tanks.

The chemical fluid is forced from the tanks into the mixing chamber by apump 21 which may be of any standard design,

preferably electrically operated.

In order to control the generation of gas, I provide a valve betweeneach 'acid chamber and the mixing chamber and a similar valve betweenthe chemical tanks and the mixing chamber. These valves are controlledby Ithe pressure in the mixing chamber so that when the pressure reachesa predetermined maximum, tlie supply of acid and chemical fiuid is cutoff. The valve 22 which controls the passage. from the acidV chamber tothe mixing` chamber may be of any suitable type. As shown it comprises avalve plug 22 which engages a valve seat 23 to close the passage. Thisvalve is carried by a lever 2l pivoted at The valve is pivoted to thelever intermediate its ends and the free end is connected to a diaphragm QG which operates to close the valve when the pressure in thechamber reaches a predetermined point. ysav jfor instance one hundredpounds per square inch. When t-he pressure falls below this point, aspring 27 opens the valve in a manner well understood in the art. Valve28 controlling the passage from the tanks to the mixing chamber issimilar in construction to valve Q2 but is provided with an additionalvalve plug Q9 controlling a by-pass `around the pump E21. lVhen thepressurel is below the predetermined point at which the valves are` setto close, the valve being open, the chemical fluid will be pumped fromthe pipe 15 through the valve 30, and pipe 31 to the mixing chamber.-iWhen the pressure valve closes the by-pass will beopened around thepump at valve plug tl'so that the pump may continue to operatel withoutload. The pa.,- sages for the acid and chemical fluid are soproportioned with reference to each other that a complete chemicalreaction ensues in the mixine chamber. A pressure gage 32 indicates thepressure in the chamber when the pump is pumping fluid into the chamber.The water supply is connected to pipe 33 and a valve 3l is supplied forcontrolling the admission of water direct to the mixing chamber ashereinafter described.

A detail of the pressure valve is shown in Fig. 3. This shows a handwheel 35 for adjusting the diaphragm through stem 36 and a second handwheel for adjusting the spring. The discharge of the gas from the mixingchamber is through pipe 37 which may be provided with connections formore than one hose 38. The chemical tanks are each provided with anopening 39 having a cover l0 for filling and a similar opening 41 andcover 42 are provided in the acid chamber.

AsL thus constructed and arranged, the operation is as follows: The`tanks 10 and 11 4being supplied with a suitable charge of lchemicalmaterial which will ordinarily be bicarbonate of soda, the valves 1S and2O will be opened to supply water to these tanks to make aA propersolution. The acid chambersl I3 and l being also filled with acid.ordinarily sulfuric acid, the valve 30 will be opened and the pump Q1started. There heilig no pressure at starting in the mixing chamber. thevalve 2S is in open position. that is, in position to admit fluidthrough the, pipe 8l and valve '32 is likewise open to admit acid intothe. mixing chamber. The pump will now pump chemical Huid into themixing chamber and by'` reason of the acid admitted from the acidchamber, gas will be rapidly generated which may be discharged throughthe hose in a manner well understood. lVhen the pressure in the mixingchamber rises to, say for instance, one hundred pounds per square inch,both of' the pressure valves close, thereby cutting off the acid andalso the chemi-v cal fluid. The closing ot the valve 28 opens the bypassaround the pump so that the pump may continue to operate without load.lVhen the 'pressure falls due to the gas being consumed, the valves willagain open and supply the acid and chemical fluid as before. Thesevalves will continue to open and close as thel pressure rises and fallsalthough the pressure will never vary to any considerable extent. lVhenthe supply ot chemical fluid in one tank is exhausted, the valvescontrolling it may be closed and the supply renewed. In the meantime theother tank will be utilized. The same is `true ot the acid chambers, itonly being necessary to turn the acid chamber on its axis to bring thefull chamber into action and place the empty one in position to befilled. When the operation is sto ped, there will be substantially nomateria in the chemical chamber and there will therefore be no l waste.

It will be noted that I provide means whereby the water supply may becharged with gas for fire extinguishing purposes. In order to do this,it is only `necessary to adjust the pressure valves so that the pressureas indicated at the gage will be substantially equal to the waterpressure. The water from the supply pipe may therefore enter the mixingchamber by the openin of valve 3st and be discharged through the osejust as the gas is discharged.

It will be seen that I have supplied means' whereby the generation `ofgas will go on 'ontinuously and indefinitely and when the operation isover, there `are no materials to be wasted. The supply of material maybe replenished without interfering with the operation of the apparatusand the pump need never be stopped when the apparatus is m use.

While I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form and asoperating in aspecific manner in accordance with the v)rovisions of thepatent statutes, it should e understood that I do not limit my inventionthereto, since various modifications thereof' will suggest themselves tothose skilled in the art, without departing from the `spirit of. myinvention, thc scope ot which is lset forth in the annexed claims.

W hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters latent ot' theUnited States, is

l. A chemical fire extinguishing apparatus comprising a mixing chamber,chamber arranged to feed acid to the mixing chamber, a tank for thechemical fluid, means for delivering the fluid into the mixing chamberand means for automatically controlling the discharge of acid and fluidto the mixin chamber in accordance with the pressure in said chamber.

2. A chemical re extinguishing apparatus comprising a mixing chamber, anacid chamber arranged to feed acid to the mixing chamber, a tank formixing chamber to generate gas and means for automatically controllingthe generation of gas in accordance with the pressure in the mixingchamber.

3. A chemical fire extingu'ishing apparatus comprising a mixing chamber,an acid chamber arranged to feed acid to the mixin chamber, a pluralityof tanks for the chemical fluid, means for delivering fluid 4. Achemical re extinguishing apparatus comprising a mixing chamber, an acidchamber arranged to feed acid to the mixinga byand means whereby whenthe pressure in reaches a predeteracid chambe comprising a mixingchamber, an acid chamber arranged to feed acid to the mixing chamber, atank for the chemical fluid, a pump for f chemical fiuid into the mixingchamber to generate gas, a bypass around the pump, and means whereby thebypass is opened and the discharge of acid and fluid to th off When thepressure in the mixing chamber reaches a predetermined value.

6.- A chemical fire extinguishing apparatus comprising a mixin chamberarranged to chamber, a tank for the chemical source of supply of waterconnected to said tank, means for delivering chemical fluid .d to themixing chamber in accordance With the pressure in said chamber, andmeans for admitting Water from the source of supply direct to the mixingchamber.

chemical fire extinguishing apparatus comprising a mixing chamber forgenerat' 8. chemical fire extinguishing apparatus comprising a rotatablemixing chamber, two rs at right angles to each other mounted thereon sothat W en one is in vertical position for use, the other will behorizontal position for charging.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto my hand this 6th day of April 1916.

' CHARLES B. CONNELY.

set

